Attenuating the 'attentional white bear' effect enhances suppressive attention.

ABSTRACT: Trying to ignore an object can bias attention towards it - a phenomenon referred to as the 'attentional white bear' (AWB) effect. The mechanisms behind this effect remain unclear. On one hand, the AWB may reflect reactive, 'search and destroy' distractor suppression, which directs attention toward irrelevant objects in order to suppress further attention to them. However, another possibility is that the AWB results from failed proactive distractor suppression - attempting to suppress attention to an irrelevant object from the outset may inadvertently result in an attentional shift towards it. To distinguish these two possibilities, we developed a categorical visual search task that addresses limitations present in prior studies. In five experiments (N_total = 96), participants se

SUBMITTER: Muhl-Richardson A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9630199 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature